


Desperate Kind of Love

by Tousled_Sky



Category: Tangled (2010)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Emotional Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Past Child Abuse, Stockholm Syndrome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 01:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15830721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tousled_Sky/pseuds/Tousled_Sky
Summary: Castle life had taught Eugene a great deal of etiquette for certain scenarios, but this situation had not been among them.





	Desperate Kind of Love

**Author's Note:**

> "I'm holding onto pieces of us that I just can't let go; I know this is a desperate kind of love, but it feels like it's home" - NF, Wait

It had been exactly a year now.

A year since Rapunzel’s knees were scuffed by the wooden floors as she struggled against the chains weighing her down, trying to crawl to Eugene. Since the glass shard had cut shallowly into Eugene’s hand as he pulled her hair back and sliced through it. Since Mother Gothel had fallen out the window and landed, nothing more than dust, on the grass below the tower window.

They’d celebrated Rapunzel’s nineteenth birthday yesterday, and in so many ways, the festival was even better than last year. Eugene was no longer wanted by the guards, they didn’t have to worry about a pissed-off Gothel coming after them, and the cause of the festival – Rapunzel – was actually present, for the first time in nearly two decades.

Really, the only thing that hadn’t been as nice as last year is when they lit the paper lanterns and launched them into the sky. It wasn’t because they were standing on the balcony of the palace rather than watching from the harbor this time, no; the location wasn’t the issue. Rather, it’s because instead of looking enchanted at the sight, Rapunzel looked so very… _sad._ And that sadness had prevailed right up until Rapunzel had hugged Eugene goodnight and retired to her room (Eugene might be courting her, but they didn’t yet share a room).

He’d thought that perhaps she was just tired and would be better in the morning. However, that theory was rapidly disproven the next morning when Rapunzel was nowhere to be found on the palace grounds.

The king and queen had been understandably upset when their daughter disappeared the day after her nineteenth birthday – they had lost her once already, and had only had her back for a year. They’d been panicked and ready to call a search party, but Eugene asked them to let him try to find her first, rather than to panic the kingdom.

He had taken Maximus – in the year that they’d both been living at the palace, their grudging ceasefire had become more and more of a friendship – and ridden straight out to the tower. He hadn’t been sure she’d be there, so he was relieved to see her in the grass. She wasn’t dressed in the same slip of a dress she’d once been, rather wearing the typical royal attire, though still a soft pink-purple. Though her clothing was regal, her posture was defeated – leaning over the grass, head so low her crown would have fallen if it weren’t placed on the ground next to her.

Maximus whickered softly, seemingly uneasy at seeing the princess in such a state. Eugene patted him on the neck, the fur warm and damp from the canter through the woods.

“Stay here, okay? I’m gonna go talk to her,” Eugene murmured softly to the horse, dismounting from the smooth leather of the saddle and starting towards her.

When he was maybe five meters away, Rapunzel called out to him, voice quiet and sad. “Hey, Eugene.”

“Hey, Princess,” Eugene replied, sitting in the grass next to Rapunzel. He reached over and set a hand on her back, gently rubbing circles but at a loss as for what to say. What does one say when he finds his girlfriend out in the woods, sitting at the bottom of a tower she’d been imprisoned in for most of her life?

Castle life had taught Eugene a great deal of etiquette for certain scenarios, but this situation had not been among them.

Rapunzel was the one who broke the silence after a few minutes.

“It’s been a year, now.”

“Since we went to live at the palace? Yeah, we went there the day after your birthday,” Eugene replied, leaning forward a bit to look at Rapunzel’s’ face, but didn’t gather much from her expression – her face was blank behind the short strands of chocolatey hair, simply staring at the ground. For a moment the worry Eugene felt bubbled into panic. It was obvious she wasn’t okay, but was she hurt? Drugged? Why was she looking like that?

His fears eased slightly as she sighed, turning to face him, face shifting into something sadder but fully sentient.

“Yes, but I wasn’t talking about that,” Rapunzel said with a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes, before reaching up to rub across her eyes with the back of her hand. She sighed again, looking back down to the ground – the very same patch of grass that the cape had crumpled to, that the dust had splashed across a year ago.

“I miss her, Eugene. And I feel bad about it, because I have my real parents now, my mum and dad, but…” she trailed off, seemingly struggling for words. “She was a bad person for keeping me locked up like she did. And I remember things about her, things that she did that were terrible; how she’d lie to me, or yell at me if I disagreed with her,” Rapunzel said, hands fisting in the blades of grass, voice strained.

“But I also remember things she did that were the kind of things normal moms probably do with their kids. Like when I was six, and she let me stand on her feet to show me how to dance. It was the dead of winter, already dark outside at five o’clock, and we were dancing in front of the fireplace while these huge flakes of snow fell outside, twinkling in the light from the window’s candles. Or the time I was ten and convinced her to paint with me – I had just gotten this huge canvas, and I told her it’d be better if we both painted it,” Rapunzel laughs, but it’s a watery, unhappy sound. “It turned out _so bad_ , because she had no idea how to paint, and by the end, we were both covered in colors. It took weeks to get the pigments out of my hair, but that was my favorite painting for years – I hung it besides my bed and I used to roll over and look at it when I couldn’t sleep. The colors were muted in the darkness, but I still thought it was beautiful. Even just remembering the way her face looked when she was happy, the way she would smile at me –“Rapunzel cuts off as her voice grows hoarse, looking away sharply and scrubbing at her eyes with her arm.

“She was abusive and manipulative, and I know that. But I did love her, and I think she loved me too, in a strange, twisted way. And then she was gone, so suddenly – it took under a minute and then she was nothing but dust. And I was relived, then. But now, I miss her so much, I can hardly stand it.” She turns back to him, face hesitant and timid, afraid. “Is that bad?”

“Oh, Princess. Rapunzel, baby, c’mere.” Eugene coaxed, pulling Rapunzel into his arms. He rubbed her back with one hand and carded the fingers of the other through her short dark hair. “It’s not bad, sweetheart. For eighteen years, she was the only person you knew. I can’t say that I understand how it must be, because I don’t – I was never really in the kind of situation you were in. Nor can I imagine the things you must be feeling – well, expect that they aren’t pleasant.”

Rapunzel laughed weakly into Eugene’s shoulder, a watery hiccup of a sound. “Understatement of the year.” She said shakily, sniffling against him. Eugene squeezed her slightly.

“But what I do know is that you’re not a bad person, Rapunzel. You had a really complicated upbringing, and it’s okay to have confusing feelings about that.” Eugene says softly. “And I’m here to listen, if you want to talk anymore.”

Rapunzel shook her head, strands brushing against Eugene’s cheek with the motion. “Thanks, but I think I’m all talked out for now,” She answered. “And…well, I’m sure my parents are probably worried, and I feel bad for that, but…can we stay here just a little longer? I think I need to.”

“Of course, Rapunzel. Do you need some time alone here?” Eugene asked.

“No, no,” Rapunzel differed quickly. “I’ve been out here alone for a while – I’d rather you stay here with me.”

“Of course, Princess.” Eugene replied, kissing her temple reassuringly. She pushes closer into his embrace, arms tightening around his back, gripping onto him like she’s afraid of falling from a height. Or maybe afraid of falling apart.

They sit together, quiet and somber, in the soft grass and warm sunlight for a long, long time.


End file.
